


I beg to differ

by wertdifferenz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Character Study, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-06-28 20:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15714555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wertdifferenz/pseuds/wertdifferenz
Summary: James want to live his college life in peace, and as far away as possibly from his High School enemy Kogane.Life gets a little bit more difficult when he falls for one of Kogane's friends...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I have a shitload of other stuff to do, but I read the stories on Ao3 about this pairing and. I. Couldn't. Resist. 
> 
> The college au is the only thing that really came to my mind, and the magical coin-flipping-website took the decision between canon universe and alternate universe from me in the end. 
> 
> (I already have another hc about Lance and James in the garrison... but I have to study a lot about cargo and fighter pilots before writing that, so I'm not sure if I should tackle it...)
> 
> On a side note, I am so happy that Voltron told us the names of the MFE pilots. I love every single name! (My imaginary hubby is called Ryan btw!)

James has always thought that after he started college, everything from his live before would have been irrelevant. Left back at High School, together with bullies, pimples, bad clothing choices and the general awkwardness teenagers tend to have. 

High School hasn’t been his best time, and especially not the proudest one, but James made sure to leave everything behind and start new. He sorted out the bad friends before starting his first semester, got rid of a few unhealthy life choices and even tried to leave all that negative energy from school behind. His best friend Kinkade had silently made fun of him for that, but James chose to ignore that in order to get through college with as little hitches as possible.

Of course, his well thought plan was destroyed on his first day in college, by none other than Keith Kogane himself, his enemy-slash-rival from High School. Kogane was the last person James wanted to have in his new life, and seeing that their feelings were mutual, they both decided to simply keep as far away as possible from each other. 

Fast forward to today, three semesters later. Up until now James didn’t have a single problem with any of his fellow students, and he is proud to say that he managed to avoid Kogane as much as possible. Which is easy, because they don’t share any classes, and had little in common besides going to the same college; no matching hobbies, no shared friend groups, no reason to even think about that guy.

That is, until he observes one of Kogane’s friends enter his history classroom and sit in one of the front rows. James hasn’t seen him being in this class before, but to be honest, he hasn’t paid much attention to the rest of the class either. The first four weeks he had been too occupied by their energetic professor to see anything else than the board in the front and his quickly filling notebook on his table. 

But today James is early, his previous class has been cancelled and he had enough time to grab some coffee and find an empty seat in the back of the room before the previous class had even finished. With nothing else to do he watches his classmates slowly arrive and settle in, shifting his eyes from the entrance to his phone and back whenever something interesting happens. He quickly forgets his phone though as he spots Kogane’s brunet friend among a group of unknown people. 

Why is this the first time James has noticed him? Sure, he is concentrating on his classes most of the time, and sure, he doesn’t know how every single one of Kogane’s friends looks from behind, but James has a feeling that he should have noticed that guy way sooner. Why? Don’t ask him. 

Professor Coran enters the room just a few seconds before the bell rings and quickly starts his class. His orange hair isn’t the most outstanding thing about that man, his personality is much more eye-catching than his exterior, but as flashy as he is, James can’t bring himself to dislike him. 

“Alright,” Coran exclaims halfway through the lesson. “That will be all I have to teach you for today. But you are not dismissed yet!” Coran freezes the screen of the beamer with his remote and gets to his laptop in the corner of the room. After a few clicks that echo through the quiet hall, a new presentation pops up in the front. 

“As most of you probably already read on the syllabus, it’s this time of the year where you and a partner of my choice are given four weeks to work on a project that will have big say in your final mark for this class.” He politely waits as some students let out a collective groan. “The topic and requirements are listed here on the board. You can decide on your own how you want to write and structure your work, but you can’t just write about the main part. You work has to have an introduction, a conclusion and a brief summary of the topic either in the beginning or at the end of your work.”

James starts taking some notes. He knows that this project takes up about thirty percent of his final mark, so he wants to make sure to submit a good end product. Coran starts talking about acceptable fonts and type sizes, so James lets his thought stray a bit. He really hopes he doesn’t get partnered up with a slacker or someone who only does the absolute minimum. College life is hard enough, and he hates working for two. 

“Alright, folks. That’s the theoretical stuff. You can see the rest on the presentation, although it’s not as important as the next part: your partners!” Professor Coran sounds way too excited for this, and James can’t stop a smile. His professor sure has his ways to make every class amusing. “Since we are a smaller class this year, I will just read your names and the one of your partners. You can find each other as soon as I am finished here.”

Coran starts reading off some names in alphabetical order and the names of their partner right behind. “… Miss Gates, you will work with Mister Percy. Mister Griffin, your partner is Mister McClain. Mister Ivens together with…” 

James zones out again, scanning the room for this McClain. He doesn’t know all of his classmates last names, doesn’t even know all of his classmates, so he looks for someone turning his way. McClain, McClain… his eyes zoom over the sixty-somewhat heads in front of him until he finds a guy that’s looking right at him. 

He curses his luck, the universe and Professor Coran when he realizes who he’s been partnered up with. Of course, of fucking course it has to be Kogane’s friend. Of all people in this room, it has to be this guy. 

James mood sours immediately, which must show on his face because the guy, McClain offers his brain kindly, raises his eyebrows at him before turning back to the front. James uses the rest of the class to stare at Coran, trying to get the professor too look at him and realize that this pairing does not work. But James gets ignored and can’t do anything but sigh deeply as Coran dismisses the class a few minutes early and McClain gets up to walk towards him. 

James tries to turn down his sour mood a bit. Surely this guy can’t be so bad, right? Just because he’s Kogane’s friend doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole. Kogane has nice friends too, James knows from his own friends that this Hunk is probably the most lovable guy on the whole campus, paired up with his girlfriend Shay and even the grumpiest grumpy-pants doesn’t stand a chance. And there is still Shirogane, James’ personal hero. That guy likes Kogane enough to stick around for the last five years, and James can’t find anything bad about Shirogane. 

So maybe that McClain isn’t so bad. James should at least give him a chance.

That’s what the kind part of his brain tells him, but the rest of his body fights against it. His sour look must still be on his face as McClain comes up to him with a careful smile. 

“Hey,” he says, hand raised for an awkward wink. “You’re James Griffin, right?” He awaits James’ nod before speaking up again. “Okay, great. I’m Lance, by the way. I don’t think we ever met before.”

James shakes the outstretched hand after looking at it for a moment and murmurs something that distantly sound like “nice to meet you”.

Lance points at the empty chair next to him. “May I?”

“Sure.” 

Lance fidgets with the pen in his hands for a while, probably waiting for James to say something. When the silence stretches awkwardly long he finally speaks up. “So, how do you want to tackle the project?”

James looks at him, trying to make out wherever Lance really wants to listen to his opinion or if he’s already trying to push his work on James. “We should gather information about the general topic first before starting to look deeper into it.” James watches Lance nod before continuing. “I suggest we meet up in the library to do some research and assign the tasks after we have a better look at everything.”

Lance nods again, a smile forming on his lips. “Okay, that sounds great. When do you have time to meet up?”

Well, at least this guy doesn’t fight his suggestion right away like Kogane would. James goes through his schedule in his head. Honestly, he doesn’t have much time at all, but he wants to start with the project as soon as possible to get it over with. “I still have some things to work on today and tomorrow. How about Thursday?”

Lance thinks for a moment. “My last class finishes at three, so we can meet up at three-thirty?” 

“Sounds good,” he answers. His voice doesn’t sound too enthusiastic. James isn’t used to hiding his emotions, so his bad mood easily seeps through. Lance is either blind or chooses to ignore it for the time being. 

Students around them starts to leave the classroom. James quickly checks the time on his phone, realizing that today’s lesson is already over. “Sorry, I have to get to my next class.” He quickly gathers his notebook and pen in his messenger bag before getting up. “See you Thursday?”

Lance gets up with him, but he left his stuff at his previous seat, giving James the perfect chance to slip away. James doesn’t hear his answer since he’s already halfway through the door when he turns around one last time. He easily spots Lance between the rest of the students. The frown on his face makes something inside of James twist unpleasantly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to split chapter 2, so we have 7 chapters now. Yeai, more work!

The way home from his last class usually only takes him fifteen minutes, but this evening James makes a detour to get some food for his roommate and himself. He enters his room with his bag in one hand and the take-out in the other. Kinkade isn’t back from his classes yet, so James sets the food on his desk and takes a quick shower. 

James finds his roommate sitting at his desk when he gets out of the bathroom. Kinkade gives him a nod before he digs into his food, and after James puts on some pants and a shirt he does the same. They eat in silence for a while, partly because Kinkade isn’t the chatty type, partly because they really don’t have anything to tell each other since they spend most of their time together. 

But the whole project thing is still on his mind, and James kind of wants to talk about it anyway. “You know that guy I told you about from High School? The one I didn’t get along with?” 

Kinkade looks up and nods. 

“I have to work on a project with one of his friends in my class.” He takes another bite. It gives him some time to gather his thoughts about the topic. “You know a guy named Lance McClain?” 

The look in Kinkade’s eyes say something like ‘why should I?’ or ‘why do you care?’. James is still learning to understand the whole spectrum of Kinkade’s silent language, so he has to clarify the answers from time to time. 

“So, you don’t?”

Kinkade gets up and grabs James’ phone from his bag. He tips for a few moments before leaving the phone on James’ desk and moving back to his own desk and his own food. 

James looks at the lit screen and sees the open group chat between him, his roommate and two other friends. It takes a minute before he gets the message. 

“Right, Riz should know him.” She practically knows everyone on the campus.

Kinkade nods again, and James imagines a little smile on the stoic face before turning his attention on the chat. Rizavi and Leifsdottir are probably in the middle of dinner themselves. Not expecting an answer so soon he turns back to finish his food. 

They throw the empty containers in the trash in the hallway since they don’t want the smell in their room and begin with homework and reviewing their notes from the day. James thinks of starting to read into the topic of the history project but decides against it pretty quickly. He doesn’t want to give McClain the impression that he’s going to do all of the work himself after all. Most people think that they can just lean back and let James do everything in group projects, but he doesn’t have time or energy for that.

His and Kinkade’s phone vibrate an hour later. Riz answers his question about McClain quite enthusiastically, but she’s pretty enthusiastic about most things, so James doesn’t give it too much importance. 

She knows quite a bit about McClain from one of their classes in first year. Riz tells him a lot of contradictions; he is a flirt, but only flirts to lift the mood. He might seem a bit annoying, but only because he is an energetic and chatty person. He is pretty laid back, but always gives one hundred percent when it comes to school and his friends. 

In the end, James still has no clue what to think of him. 

Like, sure. Riz has a pretty good grip on judging people. But McClain is still Kogane’s friend, and that has to mean something, right? At least for James; Riz wasn’t the one who bullied Kogane in High School. 

He thanks Riz for the intel and shares a look with Kinkade when they get a pile of emojis in return. He sighs when he turns off his screen to go back to his homework. Seems like he has to make himself his own picture about Lance McClain.

* * *

Thursday comes around, and James arrives in the library at the time they agreed on. He thinks of waiting outside for McClain but decides against it. They have a lot of work to do, so he should use all the time available. 

James opens the big wooden doors of the library and quickly goes through the foyer. The building is pretty old, probably one of the oldest on campus. The architecture is quite interesting, as are the paintings on the wall inside. James has spent hours looking at the art last year when he and his friends had meet up to study together. 

The memory conjures a bitter smile on his face. He’d rather meet up in the library with Riz, Leif and Kinkade right now, but he doesn’t have a choice. 

James walks through half of the open room to get to the history department. He figures they will get most of the information they’ll need for the project from here, so it’s the only smart option really. A few students from his class are here already and James greets them with a smile while searching for an empty table. 

He’s just rounding the corner to get to a more secluded and therefore quiet part of the department when the sight of a familiar figure makes him stop in his tracks. In the middle of half a dozen opened books and a pile of notes sits McClain, scribbling something onto the paper in front of him while flipping through a few pages. 

_What…?_

His eyes roam back and forth between the books and his notes. McClain is so focused on his work that he doesn’t notice James until he literally stands right in front of him.

McClain looks up from the paper, greeting James with a smile as he recognizes him. “Oh, hey. I didn’t see you there.”

James ignores his friendliness completely and gets straight to the point. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhm… working on the project?” McClain raises an eyebrow and shrugs when James doesn’t say anything right away. “My last class got cancelled, so I got here early and started to gather some information about the topic.”

“Okay?”

His eyes widen slightly. “Or did you wanted to start together? Sorry, I just thought that I could make myself usefu-“

“No no no, I didn’t mean that. I was just surprised to see you. That’s all.” James takes the seat next to McClain, so they can look at the book together. Lance tilts his laptop towards him. The document on the screen is still empty, but the paper in front of McClain is full of scribbles and words that kind of look like a messy mind map. A really messy mind map. But a mind map nevertheless. 

McClain watches James eye his notes for a minute looking away sheepishly. “Sorry, my writing looks messy to other people, but I swear I have a system.”

James raises an eyebrow at him but says nothing. Instead he takes one of the books in front of him and reads the passage that’s marked with a sticky note. McClain lets him look at a second and third one before speaking up.

“I also found a few websites that cover almost the same stuff that’s in the books, and a bit more.” He slides his laptop towards James, so he can take a look at it too. While James clicks through the open tabs, McClain takes his time to rewrite his mind map. After they both are finished he gives James his notes to read.

To say James is surprised is an understatement. Even with the background information Rizavi provided him, he didn’t expect McClain to work so far ahead just because he has some extra time. Even going so far to write some notes so James doesn’t have to dig through all the information himself.

Okay, maybe James was wrong to judge McClain before knowing him. Maybe that guy isn’t as bad as Kogane… 

With that thought in mind James starts to take his own notes, coping most of the one’s McClain already wrote down before they start researching a bit more together. At the end of their session they have pretty much figured out what their work should cover and how they should tackle the project.

They take a few more minutes to split up the work. James makes sure that they divide it equally, even though McClain assures him multiple times that he doesn’t have much homework and studying to do besides that project and that he can take more work. But James doesn’t like it if one of them does more than the other, even if it means that he’ll have an easier time. Letting someone else do his work just doesn’t sit right with him. 

It’s already past six when they pack up their stuff. McClain puts the books back into the shelves he got them from before clearing the table off his stuff. James waits for him this time and gets promptly punished as McClain tries to start some small-talk. “You have some tests coming up, right?” That question comes out of nowhere. Instead of answering, James just raises an eyebrow. McClain seems to understand the silent question.“I heard from Nadia,” he adds quickly.

“From Rizavi?”

McClain nods. “Yeah, she texted me the other day and we got some coffee together.” 

Of course she did. That woman just can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business. James regrets asking her about McClain; he could have gone without the information about him and wouldn’t have made Riz curious like this. 

Since he hasn’t answered his questions, McClain tries to rope him back to the topic. James interrupts him. “I promised my roommate to eat dinner with him.” 

He can see McClain’s smile fall before he can stop himself. The corners of his mouth turn up again, but it looks too forced to be real. “Oh yeah, sure. I don’t want to hold you up.” They reach the entrance of the library. James hopes they don’t have to walk into the same direction to get to their dorms.

Thankfully McClain stops when James takes the path to their left. “So, see you in class?”

“Yeah,” James nods. It seems like McClain doesn’t expect him to say anything else; he just turns around without sparing him another glance and leaves into the other direction. Which is kind of a bummer, because James thought that McClain would at least say ‘bye’ or something.

He quickly realizes that he is the reason for McClain’s distant manner. 

James stares at space McClain has occupied just moments earlier and curses himself. He doesn’t want to fall back to his High School self; he thought he’d left the arrogant bully-persona far behind. But his past self is catching up, and he hates it.

He’s so angry at himself because this is not the person he wants to be. This is exactly the opposite of what he worked so hard for, and it’s shameful how easily he slipped back. And all because he can’t handle working with one of Kogane’s friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like writing James as a petty person for now. But he has a reason to be so wary. (And he realizes himself that it's not his best move.) 
> 
> And don't worry, Lance won't let himself be treated like that for much longer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burst pipe feat. Lance's frustration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is the last day of my long weekend, so I'm probably not able to post every 2 days from now on. I still have other stuff to write, but this story is so much fun and a good way of practising a few new things.

Instead of doing homework, studying and projects, James takes the Saturday evening off to enjoy some relaxing time and a movie with Kinkade, Riz and Leif in the girl’s dorm room. He has trouble concentrating on the movie though thanks to Riz. Her chatter makes him miss half of the plot. 

After half of the movie she turns her attention from Leif to James and nudges him with her foot until he looks at her. “So, how was your date with Lance?”

“It wasn’t a date.” James narrows his eyes. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just interested in the life of my friend.” With the sly grin she is sporting, James doesn’t believe a single word. Her grin turns even slyer when she says the next few words. “And Lance is nice, cute and totally your type.”

“I don’t have a type. And McClain is just my partner for this project.” James watches the exchange between Kinkade and her. They have managed to develop a silent language between the two of them. His accusing look at Kinkade gets ignored, so he just huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Riz’ smile turns devilish. “You would totally look good together.”

“We wouldn’t. Stop it,” he grumbles. 

“You would,” Leif chimes in from where she’s sitting on the bed. Her eyes are fixed on the screen, but James knows she’s able to easily concentrate on multiple things at once. 

“Leif!” He turns his head back towards the screen. He can still see Riz grinning from the corner of his eyes and quickly interrupts her when she opens her mouth to speak again. “Focus on the movie.”

* * *

James has some questions about his part of the project, but since he doesn’t have McClain’s number, he just writes them into his notebook and waits for their next class to ask them. 

And yes, he could ask Riz for McClain’s number, but something like this is utterly inappropriate… he thinks. 

So, James waits for Tuesday to come around, which is fast because he has a shitload of other stuff to do and his free time is packed with studying for upcoming tests and the occasional breather when Kinkade, Leif or Riz show up to drag him away from his books. 

James sits at his usual space in Coran’s class again: last row, middle seat. It’s usually the row with the least students, so the seats right and left stay free and he doesn’t get disturbed by noisy neighbors.

He’s a bit early again, no coffee but plenty of time to watch the other students arrive again. McClain enters the room alone this time but gets greeted by a few other people on his way to the last row.

Wait, what? 

Oh yeah. Instead of going to his own seat somewhere in the front, McClain eyes the back of the room until he spots James and proceeds to walk straight up to him. Which makes sense, because they are project partners and he probably has some questions about their work too, just like James does. 

But just the thought of their last conversation together makes James stomach turn. He wills the frown he can already feel on his lips away and tries to face him with a neutral expression instead. 

McClain stops and puts a hand on the backrest of the seat right next to James. “Hey, can I sit here today?”

Well, he can’t say no, can he?

“Sure.” James takes his bag from the seat and puts it on the chair on his other side. He watches McClain get his notebook from his own bag and open it on the table. James can see the sticky notes with questions on it. He grabs his own notes without a words and flips through the pages. 

He doesn’t know what to make of McClain’s smile as they answer each other’s questions. They work efficiently together until Professor Coran enters the room and starts his class. 

James takes the opportunity to watch McClain while he’s distracted with his own notes. McClain seems to have problems staying focused on the topic, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration but his eyes moving from the board in the front to his notes before sliding over the heads of the people in front of them. James doesn’t get why McClain wants to sit back here with him today when he has so much trouble staying focused like this. 

With a silent sigh James turns his eyes back to his professor and the time chart Coran is discussing right now. He ignores McClain fidgeting with his pen beside him, or the messy notes he’s hurrying to write down whenever he snaps out of his dreaming, or the way his tongue sticks out when he manages to focus on class for more than two minutes. 

James totally has his full attention on class. Totally. 

Professor Coran breezes through the lecture and ends up sending them off a few minutes early again.  
James is about to get up from his seat when McClain stops him. “Do you have time to meet up today? I’m kind of packed for the rest of the week.”

James nods. “Sure. I’m off at four.”

“Oh, me too. Should we meet in the library again?” McClain asks while getting up.

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

He slings the strap of his back over his shoulder and gives James a smile before turning around. “Alright, see you later then.”

* * *

A burst pipe. 

That’s what ruining James’ afternoon today. A burst pipe. 

More specifically, a burst pipe inside the library. That’s what the A4-paper stuck on the closed front door says at least. 

“Burst pipe, huh? I hope nothing got damaged,” McClain murmurs next to him. “Well, where are we going to study now? There is a coffee shop nearby…” He stops when James grimaces at the prospect of working there. “… which I guess is not really a good place for concentrating.” He nods a few times to himself. His eyes swift from James to the library door, to the floor and back to James when his face lights up with an idea. “We could go to my place. It’s close from here and my roommate won’t be back until seven, so no one’s going to disturb us.”

James raises an eyebrow. “Your room?”

“Dude, your blinding me with your motivation.” A smirk appears on his lips. “We can still go to the coffee sho-“

“Your room then.” James quickly interrupts. Seems like McClain knows to play him. But honestly? James doesn’t mind. They don’t really have many other options, and the faster they agree on one place, the faster they can start working. 

James would prefer to walk to McClain’s dorm in silence, but the quietness between them quickly gets filled by chatter. And even though James is basically copying Kinkade by only responding with nods and grunts, the talking doesn’t stop.

Why does he talk so much? They don’t even know each other so well. He doesn’t even know where he stands with McClain. That guy is Kogane’s friend after all, he must hate him for bullying his friend back in High School.

He silently thanks heaven and everyone listening when they arrive at McClain’s door. The room behind it is a standard dorm room, the same size as the one Kinkade and him share. Two beds, two dressers, two desks, two chairs. The only difference is that one side is nice and tidy, and the other one looks like the dresser has thrown up its whole content before they entered. 

James knows exactly which McClain’s side is. It kind of reminds him of the messy mind map from their first meeting.

“Yeah, so… welcome to my room I guess.” McClain strides through the mess of books and clothes on the floor, directly to his desks. “Sorry for the chaos, I was in a rush this morning.” He starts gathering the clothes from his chair, bed and floor and puts them onto the dresser. When there’s enough free space on the floor to move around freely McClain gets the second chair from his roommate’s side for James. 

The room is still a mess, but with the polaroid pictures of multiple McClain-like looking people, the fairy lights over his desks and an ungodly number of pillows on his bed it feels kind of… homey. Lived in. Nice.

James takes the chair McClain has moved over. He puts his bag on the ground after taking out his notes for the project and a book he has borrowed from the library before the pipe burst and left them unable to enter the building. He watches McClain set up his laptop next to him and take out his notes as well.

They finish answering each other’s questions first before moving on with their research. James  
It would be rude to just leave after like twenty minutes of work, wouldn’t it? Yeah, no. It would be rude.

…right?

He asks himself the same thing for the next five minutes, too occupied by his inner turmoil to catch what McClain tries to tell him. He only notices that he missed something when McClain calls his name.

James sees the expectant look in McClain’s eyes and realizes he doesn’t have a single clue what the other just said. So, he answers honestly. “Can you repeat that? I didn’t listen.”

Well, honest and direct. Without thinking about his choice of words or the tone he used. Which, he notes, is not a good move, because he sounds like a jerk. And he isn’t the only one who thinks like that.

McClain takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “Okay. That’s it.” He sounds so annoyed and pretty much done with him. 

James would take a step back if he weren’t sitting right now. McClain turns in his chair, faces James and fixes him with a look that has the other stiffen in his seat and hold his breath. 

“You do realize that I’m trying to be nice here, right?” McClain’s voice sounds so friendly, but the controlled anger underneath is hard to miss. “I mean, look at me. I’m here, working on the project like a good partner, trying to be nice. But you, acting like a dick doesn’t really help the situation.”

“I-“

“Look,” McClain continues, eyes set on his clenched fists on the table, “I know that you and Keith had your differences in the past, I had to listen to the whole story three times when I told Keith that I got partnered with you for the project. And I get that Keith can be a dick sometimes and knowing that he turned it down a lot in college I can only imagine how bad he was in High School, but the thing is: it has nothing to do with me.”

“Uh…“

He shakes his head briefly before looking at James again. “Just because I’m friends with Keith doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk to me. You don’t even know me, so give me a break here. I’m a nice person, okay?” McClain lifts his hands in anger but quickly catches himself. One hand runs through his hair while he sighs. “I’m trying me best to be nice, partly because Nadia asked me to, partly because I am genuinely trying to be a nice person.” 

Mouth open, eyes wide, brain frozen; James can do nothing but stare and watch McClain recoil at his own outburst. 

He bows his head and rubs his neck with one hand. “I would really appreciate it if you keep the thing you have with Keith between the two of you and start acting somewhat normal towards me. Because, you know, we’ll be stuck as partners for the next three weeks and I’m really trying to be a nice person. But you make it so hard!”

McClain slumps back in his seat, suddenly looking defeated. His voice is quieter than before and his eyes more frustrated than angry. “And I’m sorry for lashing out on you, but this whole situation is really frustrating, and my rambling is my only way of coping with stuff like that. Sorry.”

“No, no. Uhm… I’m sorry?” James bites his lip. His voice sounds way too unsure for his own liking, but he has trouble controlling it while feeling so ashamed of himself. He scrambles for an acceptable explanation, but everything his brain provides sounds like a straight out lie. After an awkwardly long pause, he just spills the truth. “I thought that you hate me.”

McClain’s head shoots up and his eyebrows furrow. “What the hell did I do to make you think I hate you? I was try-“

“Trying to be a nice person, I get it.” James interrupts him. He scolds himself because this is just another jerky thing to do, so he hurries to clarify. “I thought that you’d hate me because I bullied Kogane in High School.”

McClain sighs. “Again, that’s something that doesn’t really concern me.” He tilts his head before lifting his hands again. He fumbles around while continuing. “I mean sure, I’m his friend, and I was really angry when Keith told me the story, but he also told me that he beat you up, so I guess that makes you even.” 

His hand lands on the table, going directly for a pen he can fidget with. “I’m my own person, and I am capable of making my own opinion about people. What happened between you and Keith in the past is literally not my business.” He sits up and gives James a teasing smile. “So, can you start acting like the nice person Nadia claims you are, or do I have to keep on rambling?”

James nods before answering properly, apologizing again until McClain deems it enough for today and makes them both quit talking and start to work. 

He can’t stop himself from glancing at McClain from time to time while the other is distracted with reading. Behind the friendly smiles and polite manner James would never have expected such a strong character.

He’s amazed by McClain. Because, you know, it’s amazing when people stand up for themselves. He’s definitely not amazed because he thinks it’s hot. 

Nope.

Definitely not.

…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muffins and Oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your lovely comments! You guys make me so happy and make me addicted! <3

Turns out Lance McClain is nice. 

James’ mind provides him with a few other positive adjectives, but he decides to settle for ‘nice’.

They meet up in the reopened library on Friday. The pipe got fixed a day after bursting, but them both didn’t have to spare until today. 

James’ class has finished earlier than McClain’s, so he has already taken a seat at their previous table when McClain pops in. He greets James with a smile that widens when he receives a proper greeting in return. It’s almost blinding, like looking directly into the sun. Gosh, does he always smile like this?

James hopes so.

His eyes quickly return to McClain as he places a muffin wrapped in a blue napkin right on James’ notes. “For me?”

“Yeah. See it as an apology-slash-bribe for not hating me for lashing out on you,” McClain explains while sitting down. James watches him set up his laptop and take his notes from his bag and spreading them on the table. 

He takes the muffin and starts unwrapping it from the paper. “I don’t hate you for saying the truth. Your reaction was totally justified.” James takes a piece of the muffin and pops it in his mouth. He’s surprised by the fresh and juicy blueberries he can taste out, and briefly wonders if he should make a habit of pissing McClain off just to receive more muffins afterwards. 

McClain relaxes in his seat when James lets out a pleased hum. The muffin is really great. “So, yeah.” He rubs his neck before pointing at the goodie. “My roommate made them and he has the best blueberry-muffin recipe in the world. It’s even worth eating it when you’re allergic to blueberries.”

James eats another piece before looking McClain straight in the eyes. “Well, shit. I’m allergic to blueberries.”

The shocked look on McClain’s face makes it hard to keep up the act for more than two seconds, and James finds himself breaking out in a smile faster than he can fight it. “Chill, I’m joking.”

“Oh my god! You can’t do this to me!” He pouts, which should not adorable, but McClain sports it well. “Dude, you made me think I’m killing you with a muffin!” The pout doesn’t stay for much longer, because James can’t hide his amused laughter, and McClain joins him with a grin. “No more muffins for you, mister.”

James forces down the laughter, but a big smile stays on his lips. “Too bad, they’re really good.”

They chat a bit before getting back with working on the project. Well, McClain chats, talks about the delicious recipes his roommate comes up with, his grandmother’s cooking which no one will ever beat and even the new cakes his favorite coffee shop serves now. 

James likes the way McClain uses his whole body to tell a story, the way he drops his voice when he realizes that speaks too loud inside the library, even though no one’s around to scold them; likes the way McClain focusses his attention on James when he adds his own opinion into the conversation, likes it how he considers James words before continuing to talk. 

Before they know it two hours have passed, and they haven’t spent a single thought on the project they should be working on. When Riz calls James to let him know he’s late for their get-together, they decide to back their stuff and head home. 

Outside the library McClain apologizes profoundly for distracting them so bad with his chatter, but James makes sure to let him know that he doesn’t mind. Because he really doesn’t mind, even if it means that he will have to sacrifice some time at home to work on the project. 

He doesn’t mind because, you know, Lance McClain is really nice.

* * *

Riz has this very rare ability to get any information she wants out of a person. She basically pesters everyone until they are either too annoyed to keep on lying or make a simple mistake that gives them away, but James has never met anyone else who could do it just as well as Riz.

Like sure, Leif is the observer between the four of them, but Riz can achieve almost the same result with less quiet observing and more continuous talking.

He is really thankful that he doesn’t know more people like that, or the private part of his life would come to an end right there.

“So?” Riz nudges him with her foot, efficiently distracting James and the rest of the group from the movie again. Seriously, why can’t they spend one movie night actually watching a movie instead of chatting? 

Another nudge. “Come on, tell me something interesting!”

And James knows that she’s referring to McClain, but he tries his best to avoid the topic altogether. “There’s nothing interesting to talk about. We’re just working on the project.” Oh well, seems like his best try at avoiding is still shit.

“What?” she pouts. “You never talk about private stuff when you’re alone?”

James frowns. “No.”

“Well, that is so like you, it doesn’t surprise me.” Riz answers with a bored tone, but they all know that this is not the end of it. She moves from her sitting position to lay on the bed, back half resting with a pillow on the wall and still looking at James. “But still, you have to talk about something?”

“About the project, yeah.” He shrugs.

“And nothing else?” she goes on. “Like, when you’re having a break? Or when you’re packing up for the day?”

“No.”

“No small-talk?”

“No.”

Riz sighs. “So you basically treat him like a jerk.” And that comment kind of hurts. James watches Riz slump in her seat while giving him a disapproving look. He grimaces while she keeps on staring at him, making Riz jump right up again. “Oh! What’s with that face?”

Oh shit. “Nothi-“

“No no no, don’t deny it. I can see right through you.” Riz grins before her face gets serious. It only takes her a moment to know exactly what happened. “James Griffin, are you treating our lovely Lance like a jerk?”

He looks down. “I’m not-“

“He’s lying.”

James shoots around. “Leif!” He sighs, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “I’m not treating him like that…” he murmurs. “… anymore.”

A loud gasp breaks the followed silence. “So, you _did_ treat him like that?”

The silence that follows is answer enough. James fixes his eyes on the floor, but he knows exactly that the others are exchanging looks behind his back, trying to think of something to say here. 

It’s Leif who finds the right words. “What made you change your mind?” 

James slumps back, head resting against the bed. He really didn’t want to talk about it, because he’s still ashamed of his attitude. “He told me off,” he sighs. “And then he gave me a muffin as an apology.”

“Cute.” Riz grins. “Even though I’m pretty sure he didn’t have to.”

James gives her the evil eye for the ‘cute’, and yes, he knows it’s childish. “I told him he didn’t have to.”

“Cute,” Kinkade tosses in the conversation with an amused smile. 

Riz thanks him briefly before switching her attention back to James. “So, when are you going to ask him out on a date?” 

“I- I won’t!” James splutters.

“Whaaaat?” Riz doesn’t hesitate to amplify her annoying whining with another nudge. “Why?”

“I-“

Leif interrupts him again. “He’s afraid that this Lance hates him because he was a jerk.”

Curse those women. “No, I-“

“Aw, James. Don’t worry about that.” Riz waves her hand in front of his face, not giving James any opportunity to counter. “As long as you apologized, everything’s fine. Lance isn’t someone who reproaches you for that.”

“I’m not-“

“He sounds like a nice guy,” Leif adds casually. 

Riz attention gets drawn away from James as she starts to jump excitedly on the bed. “He _is_!” she exclaims loudly. Leif gets shaken by all the bouncing, but she doesn’t seem to mind Riz in her agitation. She doesn’t even complain as Riz collapses on her lap, a swooning look in her eyes as she lists all the good traits of McClain. “That’s why he’s so perfect for James.”

“No, he and I are just-“

“Partners. Sure,” Kinkade mocks with an indifferent voice. Of course he is on the same page with the girls. 

Three against one – tonight’s discussion is clearly lost.

James turns around to meet Kinkade’s amused look. He narrows his eyes, mouths ‘traitor’ and turns back to the TV, making sure to ignore his friends chatter for the rest of the movie. 

But he already missed a huge part of the plot, and without any background knowledge, it gets hard to keep up with the dialog. Riz still chatters in the background, significantly lower than before, but still loud enough to distract the group. 

James doesn’t follow her story but thinks about her previous list instead. She did mention that Lance is really nice, and fun to talk to, and considerate and funny, but she didn’t talk about his bright smile and pretty eyes, and that he’s so hardworking, and able to stand up for himself, and overall just really amazing.

…

Oh.

Oh no.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crushes and freak-outs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find any mistakes, please tell me. I caught a cold last night, so I'm a bit out of it.

James has trouble sleeping that night. He can hear Ryan breathing at the other side of the room, the faint ticking of the clock in the hallway, soft steps when someone passes their door from time to time. But that’s not what keeps him awake.

His brain won’t stop thinking about McClain, or rather the crush James has on that boy. 

With a sigh he rolls to his side. They forgot to close the curtains, so James has a nice view of the stars outside his window. The moon is hiding behind one of the trees near his dorm, but still shines bright enough to illuminate the whole room. Papers and books are scattered on the floor from their late-night study session, and James is sure he will step on one or two markers tomorrow morning, but he doesn’t really care. Ryan and he were too tired to clean up the mess, even though they usually prefer waking up to a tidy room. 

It looks a bit like McClain’s room, messy but with a system. History books on one side, notes right next to it, astrology in the middle, piled together with geometry and mathematics right next to the window. James could leave the room like this and would still be able to find everything he needs for the day in no time.

He smiles at the thought of understanding McClain’s mess. Well, at least some of it. The mess he left in James head is a bit harder to understand. 

It should be simple, at least that how it’s been before. James has a crush, he gets to know the other better, sees if the person is interested, confesses if said person is and they start dating. 

But nothing is simple with Lance McClain.

First of all, like Leif said before, James doubts that Lance even likes him after showing off one of his worst sides. Even James doesn’t like himself for being such a jerk to him. McClain got front row seats to James’ old bully persona, the one he regularly used on McClain’s friend in High School. 

That’s the second thing: Kogane. James knows that McClain knows the story about their past well enough by now, and he knows from their conversations that he values his friends a lot. 

In conclusion: James doesn’t have a chance. Plan failed before he could even start to plan.

James rolls onto his other side, sick of the view of the stars and his messy floor. He stares at the blank wall instead, eyes moving up and down the old paint that’s already chipped where the bedpost moves against it.

With a last sigh he decides to bury his feelings. He shouldn’t start anything he can’t finish. He shouldn’t get his hopes up when there is nothing there to believe in. So, bury the feelings it his. No problem. He can do it.

Right?

* * *

He can’t do it.

James spend the whole weekend plus Monday working on his resolve, telling himself that he can get over this crush in no time, or at least until Tuesday.

Well, guess what?

James can feel the walls he build crash down with vigor the moment Lance enters the classroom and eyes the last row, smiling as he spots James already sitting there. 

Just like last week McClain heads for the seat right next to James, taking out his book and notes for the class while roping him into a quick chat before Professor Coran enters. The work on the project is going well, so James doesn’t have anything professional to contribute and has to add to the small-talk with private stuff, opting Lance to do the same. 

Things are not going well for James.

When Coran finally starts his lesson, James finally has some time to thing about what he just did. To every normal person it looked like a nice chat, but James’ own brain provides him with useless thoughts about Lance’s dimples when he smiles or how the blue of his eyes seems to sparkle like the sunlit ocean when he laughs. 

Have his eyes always been so blue?

Has James always been so deep?

“That’s all for today, folks.” Coran’s energetic voice jerks James out of his thoughts. “Make sure to re-read this chapter, it’s really important for your future studies, and with that I mean the finals. Alright, have a good one.”

And did he really just spend a whole lesson thinking about Lance? 

Well, fuck, he did.

With a look to his side he sees McClain already packing up. They both have to hurry to get to their next class on time, but James still tries to get a few more seconds out of it. “This class always goes by so quickly.”

Lance nods beside him. “Yeah, Professor Coran sure knows how to make his classes interesting. Time flies like this.” The last paper lands in his bag before he pulls the zipper. Lance still has a pen in his hand, probably to fiddle with it on his way. He faces James who still hasn’t moved from his spot. “Before I forget.”

He leans down into James space, making his heart skip a beat at the sudden closeness. James gets a whiff of Lance’s shampoo, something fruity with a hint of coconut and doesn’t notice the new scribble on his notes until Lance backs off again.

He looks on his paper, takes in the different handwriting and looks up again. “That’s…”

“My number. So we can write each other when we have questions.”

“Yeah.” He nods dumbfounded. “Good idea.”

“Alright.” Lance smiles while taking a few steps backwards. “See you later then?”

“Yeah, uh…”

“And don’t forget to text me so I have you number too.” He winks – _winks_ – before walking off. And James might be a bit delusional right now, but he swears he can see the rosy tint of McClain’s cheeks. 

His eyes follow the other out of the room. He stares at the door McClain went through for a good few minutes, and at the numbers in his notebook for a few more. James must look ridiculous to an outsider, just sitting there and staring at his desk like a lunatic, but he doesn’t care if someone is to see him like this, because Lance McClain gave him his number.

James it late to his next class.

* * *

Back in his room it takes about two hours of stressing out until Kinkade has enough of James’ bullshit and steals his phone to write McClain himself. Which, in the end, is probably the best and only solution they will find this evening, but still…

James slumps onto his bed, feeling utterly drained and defeated. The message is the simplest possible thing, eight simple words thanking McClain for the number, but still it feels like to little and to much at the same time. “What if he thinks it’s weird that you wrote him instead of me?” he murmurs. 

Ryan looks up from the book in his hands. His eyes show a mixture of confusion and worry, but James can’t make out if the worry is because of his action or because of the very concerning state of James confidence.

James sighs. “Okay, yes, he will probably never find out, but- what if he does?”

This time it’s the raise of an eyebrow that stops him from thinking too far. Well, at least in this direction; there are thousands of other ways to go down. “What if he thinks it’s weird that I’m only writing him now?”

He is well aware that he is rambling now, but James feels like he needs to put this train of thoughts into words, or it’ll eat him up. “I mean, we both had classes the whole day and I’m sure he doesn’t have much time to spare either. But it’s still too late, isn’t it?” With another look he catches Kinkade’s unimpressed gaze.

He sighs and shakes his head. “Dude.” Most people might take his irritated tone as an insult, but James knows by now what his friend tries to tell him with that. 

James groans into his pillow. Kinkade is right, he is thinking way too much. Why is he even so nervous about it? He knows he won’t act on his crush, and every interaction from here on will be as… well, friends, he guesses. He knows how to handle friends, so there is nothing to stress about. 

There are a few moments of silence before James speaks up. “Please don’t tell Riz I freaked out…”

His phone vibrates in his hands and a text in the group chat catches his attention. _Oh my gosh, James! Stop freaking out!_

“Seriously?” James looks up from his phone with a frown. Kinkade’s amused huff makes it hard to keep it though, and he soon joins him, especially when Riz starts to complain about James with a bunch of emojis and gifs. 

Yeah, there is nothing to freak out about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Lance meet for studying, which ends with pizza and Netflix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this chapter is a little bit sassy. I watched Queer Eye when I was sick, and now I can't get the voices of the Fab 5 out of my head...

Lance’s response came almost immediate in form of various emoji’s and short messages. It’s funny how much his style of texting fits his personality; he’s eager, full of energy, thinking miles per minute and sometimes need a little push to focus on just one thing instead of ten.

The next few days they text a bit about the project, but since they’re both pretty much in their schedule, their conversation change from school to private life in a matter of hours. Lance has so much to share about his life that it never gets boring, and even a simple ‘I’m bored’-text makes James excited, because it means he gets to talk to him. 

His phone is on vibration mode when he’s in class and at home, because he doesn’t want to disturb his fellow students or his roommate with the almost constant texting, but it’s scary how much of his day he’s spending on his phone thanks to a certain pretty blue-eyed boy. Even his friends start to notice, which is not hard because two are very observant and the third one literally lives with him.

At least they try to keep their teasing to a minimum, especially Riz, which James is grateful for. He knows he would be the second person of their little group (first one if it concernes Riz) to tease each and every single one of them about their crushes, but they have the mutual agreement to do nothing more than little motivational jabs. 

It’s just… not going to happen, as much as all three (four) of them like to…

* * *

Usual college students use Saturday mornings for sleeping in, nursing hangovers, and eating greasy junk food to help getting the remaining alcohol out of the body. 

James is not usual. Sure, he does like to go on parties from time to time, but the only overly-extrovert person from their group is Riz, and if she doesn’t drag them out of their dorms on a Friday, they stay inside and have a movie night. 

Lance is not usual either. Sure, he does like to go on parties he said, but since he started his job last year where he took over the morning shifts on Saturday and Sunday, he didn’t really feel it anymore. Going to work with a fat hangover is a pretty bad experience after all, and one he didn’t want to repeat, he explained in one of their chats.

So, Lance has to work Saturdays until one, and his roommate has his girlfriend over for some lunch which will lead into a make-out session he doesn’t want to interrupt. That’s his explanation for practically inviting himself over to James’ place after work. 

Not that James minds. With the main objective to get some work for the project done it’s totally valid that Lance comes over, and that James very subtly throws Kinkade out of his own room for the day.

James spends half of the morning cleaning they room. It was tidy before, but he just wanted to make sure that Lance doesn’t see any gross or embarrassing stuff accidentally. James didn’t find anything like this either, but he just wanted to make sure, okay? 

The other half of the morning is spent in front of his dresser. He went through pretty much all of his clothing to find something that makes him look good but is still casual enough for a regular study session. Because that’s what this is, a study session. 

That’s the exact same thing he has to tell Riz several times, but she still doesn’t believe him. 

James ends up wearing a black shirt with a white print on the short sleeves and dark grey jeans. When Lance finally arrives, he is glad he spent some time thinking about what to wear. With slim fitting dark jeans, a white shirt and a blue bomber jacket he can easily outrival practically anyone on this campus regarding fashion sense. 

Has he… like, has he always looked that gorgeous?

James jerks out of his staring when he sees Lance’s open smile. He steps aside to make room for the other. “Come in!” 

Lance does come in, hangs his jacket in the short hallway and goes ahead to take a look at the room. The interior is basically the same as his own, two beds, two desks, two chairs; but definitely less messy than Lance’s room. 

Kinkade has a few books laid out on his nightstand, a knitted plaid on his bed that his mum has made herself, and even a little plant he’s managed to keep alive for the last two years. 

James side is a bit plainer. He doesn’t like to have posters or flags on the wall, and he just took all his bedding from home with him. His mum had a very weird relationship with the color beige when he left for college, and James can just see the enthusiasm about his side of the room in his whole face.

Lance eyes the bed for a long minute before turning around. “It’s…nice.”

He lets out a laugh when he sees Lance’s helpless face. “You’re a bad liar.”

“Hey!” he pouts. “I’m usually better, but you’re making it hard.”

James crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s not _that_ bad.”

“It is,” Lance says with a laugh. His teasing is similar to Riz’ little jabs, so James doesn’t take it too seriously. Lance looks around one more time before plopping himself on the bed instead of the provided chair. He leans back and rests his weight on his hands. “You should make your friends help you out. Your roommate for once doesn’t suck so bad.”

“I’m really close to throwing you out.”

Lance snorts. “Like Ryan?”

James raises an eyebrow, taking in Lance’s grin before plopping himself on the bed next to him. “Riz really needs to mind her own business,” he murmurs, getting another laugh out of Lance. 

They start to work on the project after that. Their individual parts are almost done, so they move on to get everything in order. They work rwally well together, getting a good amount of work done. It’s only when Lance starts to fidget with his pen James realizes that it’s almost dinnertime. 

“You want to stop for today?” James asks when he’s done with a paragraph. “I’m honestly getting a bit tired.”

“Yeah, me too.” Lance stretches his arms over his head. “And I have this song from Brooklyn Nine-Nine in my head. It’s hard to concentrate with that.”

“Is that a movie?”

Lance lets out a gasp. “You haven’t watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine? How could you?”

“No?” James answers amused. “I don’t really have time for watching so much stuff.”

“That’s no excuse! You can just miss out on some sleep like everybody else, but not on Brooklyn Nine-Nine!”

James shrugs. “I don’t know, sleep is really important.”

Lance eyes widen for a quick second before he lets out a huff. “Make a notice: Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow.” He gestures like the dragon from Mulan and makes James laugh. “Seriously, what kind of college student are you?”

“One that is responsible and likes to have good grades?”

“No, a boring one.” Lance jumps up from his chair and goes straight for his bag left at the end of the bed. “Get your laptop.”

James swivels around in his seat, his eyes trained on Lance’s lean figure. “I’m not boring,” he says and with a small pout.

“Exhibit A: your bedsheets,” Lance states while plopping down on said exhibit.

James doesn’t really have a comeback from that, so he sighs, grabs his laptop and sets it up right next to where Lance is currently ordering over his phone. He finds the series on Netflix, waits until Lance is done and starts the first episode. 

James doesn’t know if it’s the series itself of the way Lance quietly laughs at every given moment, but he really likes this. Even more when the pizza arrives. James pauses the third episode to pay for their food and goes straight back to the laptop. 

They’re halfway through the first season when Kinkade gets back. It’s already past nine, and as much as James would like to continue watching and chatting in between the episode, Lance has to get up early for work the next day.

James follows Lance to the hallway to say goodbye and to throw away the pizza boxes. He expects another teasing comment from Lance when he throws the containers in the bin, but with a grin Lance admits he does the same with his roommate to keep the food-smell out of their room. 

The rest of the hallway is empty, most students either in their rooms or at parties. It is Saturday night after all. James would love to stall some time, but he can’t find of anything to talk about beside… “Hey, am I really that boring?”

Lance looks up, eyes wide and eyebrows raised until he catches himself. “Nah, man.” He shakes his head with a smile. “Your personality is great, it’s just your part of the room that needs a makeover.”

James lets out a relieved laugh. He bids Lance goodbye then, because the brunet really has to go now. He’s already at the end of the hallway when he turns around again.

“Dude, don’t watch without me.”

“Yeah, sure.” James laughs. 

“I mean it.”

He lifts his hands to mock-salute him. “Sure, sure.”

Lance grins and shakes his head before vanishing in the stairway. James does the same while entering his room, getting a questioning look from Kinkade that he chooses to ignore for now. Instead he closes the tab, not continuing the series like he told Lance, and shuts of his laptop. 

It’s only when he gathers the forgotten notes from his table he realizes it.

Eating, talking, watching Netflix together; this really felt like a date…

One look at an amused Kinkade tells James that he probably thinks the same.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have already seen the question mark instead of a proper chapter number. That's because I heavily underestimated my love for this fic. My six-chapter plan is already destroyed, and seven or eight chapters won't work either. I promise I'm gonna put a number in there as soon as I finally stop adding shit to my draft. (But I still have so many good ideas, and I can't ignore them.)

Tests are something James is always excited about. Not because he likes them; he just really likes the feeling of completing something. A test means that a chapter of either school, work or regular life is completed, and that he doesn’t have to think about it anymore.

He spends most of the night learning for said test. He uses the common room of his dorm do he doesn’t disturb Kinkade and only gets to bed when he can’t keep his eyes open anymore. James isn’t a big fan of such mid-night study sessions, but he’s been kind of distracted the last few days, so he has to bite the bullet. 

The test goes as well as tests can go. He is sure he passed it, even though he didn’t manage to finish all of it. Some of the questions were really easy, and some were things he really focused his previous studying on, so he doesn’t have a bad feeling overall.

Because of the test he’s early to his next class again. James grabs some coffee and a cookie on the way to the next room, deciding in the last second to get one for Lance too. 

He takes his usual seat, keeping the one next to him free for Lance and starts sipping on the hot coffee. Students slowly start to drop in, some looking like they’ve been up until morning themselves. This is one of the weeks Professors like to start with the first exams of the year, so many students walk like zombies on the campus. 

Lance’s major doesn’t have so many mid-term tests, but a few big ones and papers that are due at the end of the semester. He still can take his time easy now, only has to start studying seriously in a few weeks. That’s probably why he can still spend so much time on series and a proper social life. 

James notices Lance’s blue bomber jacket first, his bright smile second. He can’t help himself, his own mouth forming into a smile before he even realizes it. He immediately feels like some of the fatigue is lifted, and his mood is getting better and better by just looking at Lance. 

The last few students roll in, Professor Coran right behind them, so Lance hurries to the seat next to James. Coran needs a few moments to gather himself and start up his presentation, so Lance takes his time unpacking his stuff himself. 

He turns around as he places his notebook and pen on the desk, smile quickly fading into a frown when gets a proper look at James. “Man, you look wrecked.”

James hums, lifting his cup of coffee to stifle a yawn. “I studied half of the night for a test.”

Lance snorts. “That wasn’t what I meant with sacrificing sleep.” He crosses his arms in front of him and leans his weight on top of the table. His eyes rest on James though, even as Coran loudly clears his throat to get the attention of the room. “Was it at least worth it?”

“Yeah, I have a pretty good feeling about it.” With another sip from his coffee James remembers the cookies he bought for them. He gets the package from his bag and slides it over the table to Lance. “Here, choose one.”

Lance eyes the present for a second before opening it. His frown is replaced by a happy smile, and James feels some butterflies flutter in his stomach. He tries to force them away, tells himself to digest them before they do any harm. 

“Thanks man.” The bag with the cookies rustles a bit when Lance takes one, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. Lance takes a bite, smile growing even wider. “I’ve been carving for something sweet the whole morning.”

They concentrate on the class after that. Well, Lance concentrates, while James just tries to keep his eyes open. Coran’s class is interesting, but the study session from last night is catching up to him, and even the caffeine isn’t able to fight it. 

James rests his elbow on the desk, and his head in his hand while willing his hand to keep on writing, but it’s no use. His mind wanders, his eyes drop, and he only wakes up again when he hears the sound of over sixty chairs scraping on the floor. 

His eyes shoot open, quickly taking in the room. Professor Coran is already gone, and most of the students are either standing or already walking outside. “Shit.”

Lance chuckles beside him. “Oh, hey, sleeping beauty.” 

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

He snorts. “Dude, I tried, but you slept like the dead. I couldn’t do anything without screaming, so I just let you sleep and took notes.” He gets up, bag already on his shoulder. “I’m gonna send them to you later.”

James runs his fingers through his hair, probably messing it up but he doesn’t really care right now. He just hopes he didn’t do anything weird when he was asleep, like mumbling or drooling. He looks up to Lance, but the brunet’s smile doesn’t reveal anything. 

He sighs. “Thank you. And sorry.”

Lance gives him a quick laugh, probably because James sounds so defeated. “Don’t worry about it,” he answers with another easy smile before taking his leave. 

As promised, he sends James three pictures of his notes in the evening, and a fourth one, which is a selfie of Lance in the middle of class with a sleeping James in the background. Lance has his tongue stuck out and winks at the camera, and even though James should be angry at him for taking a picture when he was dead asleep, he feels just more butterflies in his stomach, because Lance just look so damn cute. 

He still answers with a frowning emoji and threat, because he doesn’t want Riz or any of his friends to receive this picture of him. Lance sends him a few laughing emojis in return, and James imagines Lance smiling while reading his messages.

* * *

His class right after lunch on Thursday gets cancelled. Lance promptly asks to meet up, since he’s free and bored and carving sweet stuff again. James follows the invite and the given address blindly, assuming that Lance just wants to talk about the project, even though they’re almost finished. 

He is surprised to find himself in front of a coffee shop. Lance is standing right next to the front door, phone in his hands and typing away. James phone vibrates, and he quickly checks the message Lance has just sent him before approaching him. 

“Yes, I’m here yet.”

Lance head shoots up, but the startled look on his face quickly forms into a bright smile. “Oh, there you are. I was afraid you would bail out.”

James eyes the busy shop behind Lance. Almost every table is occupied by students and even some professors. It’s probably hard to have a proper conversation in there, and with all the background noise studying is impossible. “Do you want to work on the project here?”

“Huh?” Lance looks at him for a second before his eyes follow James’. He turns around to take in the bustling coffee shop himself before turning around with a smile. “Oh, no. I texted to because I wanted to hang out.” He takes in James’ grimace with a laugh, which makes James only frown more. “Chill, I know you don’t like coffee shops. We’re just going to order something and go sit in the park around the corner.”

Lance steps forward to tug on his wrist and leads them through the door. Just like suspected, the inside is loud and busy and crowded, and James is really glad that Lance’s presence keeps him distracted from his surroundings. He bumps into a few people that are standing next to full tables and quickly apologizes before moving on.

Lance stops them right in front of the register and starts ordering a sweet monstrosity. He nudges James wrist which is still in his hand to get him to order and pays for them both in the end.

“My treat,” he answers James questioning look with a grin.

“You didn’t have to.”

Lance shrugs. “I know.”

James’ drink is finished first, because it’s just a regular coffee with some cream, and Lance hands it to him. He gets his own drink after a couple of minutes, and James eyes the mountain of whipped cream and caramel sauce on top until Lance drags him away. 

Lance lets go of James’ wrist when their outside again, and he immediately misses the feeling. They walk around the block to get to the entry of the nearby park. Most students are still in class, and even though the weather is nice, James and Lance seem to be the only people outside. 

Gravel crunches under their feet as Lance leads him to a bench near a pond in the middle of the park. A faint breeze blows through the branches of the weeping willow next to the bench, the rustling of leaves the only sound they can hear besides a few birds. It’s easy to forget they are in the middle of a busy campus like this. 

They have only an hour before James has to get back for his next class. Lance doesn’t have much time either, because he has promised his friends to help with one of their projects. He animatedly talks about them using him as a lab animal whenever they plan something for their engineer class.

“One time the robot they build caught fire and burnt my shirt. It was my favorite shirt too. I quickly learned to never wear any of my favorite clothes whenever I meet up with them,” he chuckles. Lance’s laugh is contagious, and James’ cheeks already hurt from smiling so much.

The mention of his friends reminds James of something. He rests his elbows on his knees, lets his bang cover some of his face and stares intently at his coffee instead of looking up. “Are your friends okay with this?”

Lance bends forward and eyes him with a little frown. “Okay with what?” he asks softly. 

“You know, us being partners for the project.” James shrugs to get some of the tension from his shoulders, but his voice is thick with it and Lance isn’t stupid, he knows exactly what James tries to say.

Lance takes a sip from his drink before answering. “Most of them don’t mind, only Keith gets a bit… grumpy when the topic comes up.” James frowns besides him, but Lance keeps on talking. “But, you know, he can’t really say anything about it. He and I know we would just end up fighting if he tries to decide for me again. We don’t want a repetition of the endless fighting from freshman year.”

James leans back and faces Lance. It feels good to know that Lance wants to spend time with him, even after all the regretful things has done. Which brings him to his next question. “How did you two become friends in the first place?”

Lance’s smile turns soft. “We have mutual friends, so we couldn’t avoid hanging out together from time to time. We clashed a lot because we’re like fire and ice, but after a while we just clicked and now he’s one of my closest friends.” His smile turns into a little smirk, and James can see the mischievous glint in his eyes before he continuous. “Once you get through his hundred layers of broodiness, you realize that he’s a pretty great guy.” He laughs to himself, but James doesn’t dare to join in. 

He doesn’t know what to do with all this information, doesn’t even know why he asked in the first place. He’s just thankful that Lance sees him for the person he is now, not the one he used to be, and that he’s here with him, just sitting in a park, drinking coffee and talking. 

He hears Lance sigh beside him and look up. He is nibbling at his straw, lost in thoughts, but jolts out of it when James moves next to him. He looks at James with a smile again. “Keith is my friend, yes, but he can’t decide who I like and who I’m friends with. The same goes for me.”

James nods, but keeps quiet. The silence doesn’t stay for long as Lance starts talking about random topics again. Homework, his family, his favorite series…

“I hope you didn’t continue Brooklyn Nine-Nine without me,” Lance says with a frown, but he can’t hold it for more than two seconds, and a grin spreads on his face as he watches James break out in a laugh.

“I didn’t, but it wasn’t easy,” James answers. “I want to know what happens next.”

“Did Riz spoiler you already?”

James unwillingly makes a face. “I know she send you the video that Leif made when Riz tried to spoiler me.”

Lance breaks out in a laugh so hard he can’t keep himself upright on the bench. “Ha, yeah. That was hilarious!” He’s leaning forwards, arms clutching his stomach, almost breathless from laughing. 

Lance wipes an imaginary tear from his eyes as he leans back, chuckles wrecking through his body from time to time. James wants to be angry, or annoyed, but he really can’t blame Lance. He has seen the video himself, knows exactly he looks like Mario or Luigi as he jumps from Leif’s bed and runs out of the door because Riz refused to keep her mouth shut.

They get interrupted by James’ alarm vibrates in his bag, telling him it’s time to head to his next class. Lance grabs their empty cups and throws them in the nearest trash can before they make their way towards the exit of the park. They part ways right there after saying goodbye, because Lance’s dorm is exactly in the opposite direction from James’ class. 

James walks a few steps before turning around again. “Hey, Lance?” he shouts a little bit too loud, because Lance hasn’t moved from his spot yet, still looking at him. James scratches his neck and looks to the side to hide his blush. “You think he would accept my apology?”

He only dares to look up when he doesn’t get an immediate answer. 

Lance smiles with a soft look in his eyes. The wind plays with his brown curls, the screen of his phone in his hand lights up a few times, but his gaze is focused on James. “You know, I think it’s worth a try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, again: Thanks for reading! I hope you like it so far.
> 
> Leave a comment with your thoughts, that would make my day (seriously)!
> 
> My tumblr: [ wertdifferenz](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wertdifferenz)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys. Thank you for your patience!
> 
> This chapter took a while to write, because I wanted to do this right. I wanted to give James the chance to apologize properly, and to let Keith know that he really means it. Of course both sides benefit from Lance's influence, but that's just how they are. Both need a push sometimes.
> 
> Also, the second part: I am so happy about this idea. Seriously, just the thought of it makes me happy. James goes through many emotions, and I wanted to address them properly again, especially since I wanted everyone to understand the trouble he's facing. The problem aren't his feelings towards Lance, but belief that they just won't hit it off together, and that the friendship that they have is not worth risking anything.
> 
> So, yeah, lots of feelings, and lots of writing, and re-writing! But here it is, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hope you enjoy!

Things are easier said than done, but after their talk yesterday, James simply can’t avoid speaking with Kogane anymore. He also realizes that the longer he hesitates, the more awkward it will get, especially between him and Lance. James knows that Lance wouldn’t force him to meet with Kogane, but the knowledge that James hasn’t done anything yet would make him feel awkward around the other, and he really doesn’t want to risk that.

That and the feeling that James owes Kogane at least an apology for his fucked up time in High School motivates him to ask for a meeting as soon as possible. 

Which is today. 

Which is way too quick. Because James needs some time to prepare himself mentally, and to organize the things he needs to say in his head, maybe review them with Lance so he doesn’t piss off Kogane even more. 

But no, fate won’t have it, and Kogane’s timetable won’t have it either, and now it’s quarter to four and James is waiting in the park Lance has brought them the day before to speak to his long-term-enemy who is also best friends with his crush.

And even worse, his brain decides that now is the best time to panic. Like, it’s filled with random thoughts, not just the talk but also the consequences if he fucks it up. Can he stay friends with Lance if Kogane still hates him after that? Maybe he screws up so bad he has to change college, live in a different state, leave all his friends and family behind and live a boring life until he dies alone in his single room apartment that he barely can afford at the age of 47.

At the same time his mind is completely blank, like the turmoil of thoughts is just background noise in a gallery with nothing else than white pictures in bland frames. 

Lance would try to calm him down, would probably be successful with that too, because he has a huge influence on him, but Lance isn’t here, and James can do nothing but panic and wait for Kogane to-

“Griffin.”

…arrive. 

James hurries to get his face under control. He’s sure that Kogane won’t appreciate seeing him freak out before they even get to talk properly. James puts up a stoic mask, which matches Kogane’s facial expression perfectly. With a firm nod he acknowledges the other. 

“Kogane.”

An uncomfortable silence stretches on, because James can’t remember what he’s supposed to say next. The look Kogane gives him is almost challenging, as if he’s here for another fight and not for an apology. 

Oh, right. The apology.

James coughs slightly before speaking up. “I-uh… I’m… Well, thanks for coming, first of all.”

“Just get it over with,” Kogane sighs with his arms crossed over his chest. The clear annoyance in his eyes would usually grate on every single one of James’ nerves, but now it’s kind of intimidating. 

“Alright.” He bites back the next comment and goes straight for the actual topic. “I want to apologize for bullying you in High School. I know you didn’t have it easy and taking my personal problems out on you was wrong and I regret it a lot. I’m really sorry.”

“That’s…” Kogane begins but doesn’t finish for a while. Another silence stretches on between them, one James doesn’t dare to interrupt this time. Instead he carefully watches Kogane, the little raise of his eyebrows, the way he shifts uncomfortably on his feet, his frown that only vanishes when he scrambles for something to say. It takes him a moment to gather himself, but the surprised tone in his voice stays. “That’s all?” 

“That’s… all, yeah.” James shrugs before he can stop himself, only realizing that this must look dismissive to anyone who doesn’t know him, but Kogane is either blind to his gesture or chooses to ignore it. 

“Okay,” he says after a long pause. With a deep breath he adds, “I’m sorry too, for punching you, and starting fights all the time. Most of them were unnecessary.”

_Most?_

James looks at him, but can’t see behind the frown. He suddenly wishes Lance was here with them, to help translate the frowns and gestures and long moments of silence; but he is on his own. “Oh, uh… thanks? I guess?”

Kogane sighs again, sounding even more annoyed than before. He clenches his fists in his sleeves, gaze shifting to the side. “And… Lance told me that it’s important that I say that I accept your apology, so… I accept your apology… I guess.” He looks at the ground with a murderous look, as if these saying words hurt him on a physical level.

And James gets how he feels. 

But it’s good to know that it’s not easy for him either. It’s good to know that James isn’t the only one gathering his courage to stand up for something that they could have easily kept dead quiet about. It’s good to know that despite their shitty past they can still work towards a peaceful future. 

“I accept yours too.”

Kogane visibly deflates, and the long breath he lets out only intensifies the picture. His eyes are still fixated on the ground, but at least he doesn’t look like he’s about to kill the gravel under his feet anymore. He looks almost shy, if not for the frown and James’ strong belief that Keith Kogane would rather start another fight than look shy in front of his former bully.

A cough jerks him out of his thoughts. “Lance probably told you that I’m a bearable person under my hundreds of layers of grumpiness,” he murmurs, arms still crossed over his chest but shoulders slack, and the look in his eyes a little bit less murderous. 

“Yeah, something like that.” James nods with a tight smile. He doesn’t know if smiling is appropriate in this situation, doesn’t even get why Kogane’s still talking to him in the first place. He’s not against it either, but it’s a bit unnerving talking about casual topics when the apology about constant mobbing and fights happened just minutes ago.

“He’s right,” Kogane adds after a while. He glances up, musters James from head to toe. After his inspection his frown turns into a sly grin. “He said the same about you.”

As if the sudden smile wouldn’t be enough to stun James, the spoken words sure as hell are. Curiosity crashes over him like an ocean wave, and James doesn’t even have time to think about the meaning of those words from Kogane’s mouth before his question is out. “What did he say exactly?”

James should know that Kogane would use any advantage to tease him, but the answer is still unexpected. 

“You have to ask him that yourself,” Kogane says, smugness visibly dripping from his smile. He laughs out as he takes a few steps backwards, obviously enjoying the bafflement on James’ face.

“Also,” he adds as he turns around, smile gone and the amusement in his eyes replaced by a dangerous glint, “if you hurt him, you’re dead.”

With that Kogane excuses himself and quickly vanishes behind the next corner. The words haunt James for quite a few minutes. Any other person would take it the wrong way, but James is currently too stunned to do anything else than accept Kogane’s threat and think of it as fair.

With a sigh he concludes the talk as somewhat successful. He apologizes, got an apology in return, and didn’t end up dead in the pond like he suspected beforehand. Seems like Lance was right. It is worth a try.

* * *

With life calming down a bit, James realizes that his effort to keep up a regular training schedule has been lacking for the past few weeks. But, you know, college life just makes it too hard sometimes to balance everything out. That’s why he’s glad that he finally finds some time to hit the gym on Saturday morning. 

He usually goes for a run, but dark clouds have been hanging in the sky the whole morning, and he doesn’t want to push his luck by staying outside for too long. The gym is empty anyway. Saturday mornings tend to keep most college students in bed.

James does his usual training, running on the treadmill, hitting some weights, running again to cool down and stretching, everything accompanied with some music and the never-ending thoughts of a blue-eyed boy when one of his recommended songs come up. 

After a quick shower, James and his aching muscles shuffle back to his dorm. His mind is already thinking about his next task. He wants to finish the last few parts of the history project so Lance and him can proofread it in the afternoon together.

He opens the door with a sigh, hoping that Kinkade is already awake so he doesn’t disturb him, and comes to a prompt stop when he sees the whole group, including Lance, gathered around his bed with a serious expression on their faces. 

“James,” Riz begins, adding a dramatic pause before continuing, “this is an intervention.”

“No,” James answers in his best ‘not-today-Satan’-voice as he turns on his heels. He’s almost out of the door when Lance’s laugh pins him in place. It’s embarrassing how much power he has over him. 

“Come on, James,” he whines, and it shouldn’t sound so damn adorable. 

But it does, and James can’t fight it. With a sigh he turns back to face the group. Every single one of them doesn’t even try to hide the grin, but Riz’ face gets somewhat serious when she broaches the subject.

“Your bedsheets have to go.”

He tries his best to eye Lance with a disappointed look, but it’s hard if he’s mostly concentrating to not return his smile. “I can’t believe you’re supporting them with that shit.”

“Dude, I know it’s hard, but this beige eyesore can’t stay,” Lance counters. He looks like he’s trying to fight his own smile but fails miserably. It ends in an amused grimace, but quickly forms back to a real smile when he adds his next thought. “Besides, I always wanted to be part of an intervention.”

Yeah, that’s what he thought. Just like Riz, Lance likes doing ridiculous things like this, enjoys making his friends laugh or help them out in a funny way. James isn’t even annoyed by the situation – he knows his bedsheets are awful – but he keeps up the act to make Lance’s happy. 

He lifts his arms just to let them fall again, offering his best act of helplessness. “What did I do to earn this?” he groans. 

Riz clicks her tongue. “James, this is a serious matter.”

“Please stop talking.”

She ignores him completely to go on with her ridiculous rant. “We understand that it’s hard, but it’s an important step for a better life.” Riz actually looks serious about this, and James is once again amazed by her various skills. Acting is definitely one of them, because right now she comes across as a concerned mother who never hesitates to butt in her son’s life.

“We’re here for you,” Leif chimes in, her face dead serious but the slight tremble in her voice betrays her. Seems like Riz and Lance aren’t the only ones who get a good laugh out of this. 

Kinkade nods at him. “You can do this.”

“Alright, alright.” James huffs, but it sounds more like a laugh than the annoyed tone he tries to adopt. He lets out a sigh to stress his point. “I’ll buy new sheets next week. Happy?”

“Great.” Riz claps her hands together and gives him a pointed look. “Make sure to take Lance with you so you don’t buy any shit.”

“I didn’t even buy these myself, I just took them from home,” James whines, but the group is not having it.

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Leif whispers, but loud enough for everyone to hear. 

Lance laughter breaks the staged silence and soon everyone else joins in. He relaxes for a moment before the alarm on his phone goes off and he jumps from the bed. “Alright guys, nice talk, but I have to get back to work.” He grabs his bag and walks outside but stops at the door to look at James. His bright smile only emphasizes the glint of amusement in his eyes. “See ya later?”

“Yeah, later.” James returns the smile and waves him off, pointedly ignoring the combined look from his friends. He faces them as Lance closes the door, the frown back on his face but they know that it’s just for show. “Are we finally done here?”

“Nope,” Riz grins. She takes her time making herself comfortable on the bed while Leif and Kinkade join her. 

James looks at the group with an amused smile. “I think we talked enough shit about my bedsheets for a whole year.”

Leif and Kinkade shake their heads until Riz speaks up. “The bedsheets aren’t the real reason we are holding this intervention.” The serious tone of her voice isn’t an act this time.

His smile fades. “What?” 

“James, we are not cruel, we don’t talk about your crush in front of your crush.” She crosses her legs and leans forward, hands intertwined and arms resting on her knees in a thinking pose. “But Lance is gone, so now it’s time to serve some tea.”

James crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow at her. “You are way too excited,” he states matter-of-factly. Several thoughts cross his mind, his brains going through a fight-or-flight reaction, but he knows fleeing would only delay this talk. “Why did you invite Lance in the first place?”

“The intervention is for your best, James.” Riz doesn’t even try to hide her grin. “And we wanted to see how far you’re gone already.”

Of all things she could respond, this one is the far worst. Fleeing sounds like the best option by now, especially since they’re breaching the topic he tries to avoid thinking about almost every second moment of the day. “Stop saying my name like my mother.”

Riz simply shrugs. “I will if you listen to us.”

He pinches his nose. “I’m not-“

“James,” Kinkade interrupts. 

Clear emotions are something Kinkade usually tries to avoid; everybody on the campus knows him for his deadpan expression. Even James forgets sometimes that the other is able to express more than the familiar indifference, but he gets reminded by the very disappointed look he’s receiving from his friend right now.

And that somehow feels worse than actually talking about the matter.

James groans defeated. “Okay, okay.” He sighs, gets his chair and places it in front of the bed to sit with the others. He takes a deep breath, holds it while cursing himself for yielding in the first place, breathes out and waves with his hand to sign that he’s ready. “You have two minutes.”

Riz perks up in her seat and eyes him for a second before starting to state the obvious. “You like him,” she says, as if every single problem would be solved by those three words. The thing is that those words are the root of his problems. 

James returns her gaze. “I also like you guys, but I’m not asking you out on a date.” He adds a shrug to make is as nonchalant as possible. 

Riz pouts at him. “That’s a shame, and a topic for our next intervention.” With a quick look to her right she encourages the other two to add something. 

“Lance likes you too,” Leif says next. Her face looks bored, but James knows she’s heavily invested as well. For once she’s not typing on her phone or reading a book while maintaining the conversation. 

“He likes a lot of people,” he retorts, and while this is not untrue, they all know by now that Lance doesn’t hang out with all of his friends as much as he does with James. He tries to tell himself that this is mostly because of the project, and partly because James is always down to spend time with him whenever he’s free.

Kinkade is next. “You fit well together.”

“We don’t.” James lets out an unhappy laugh. “He’s easy-going, funny and friendly to everyone. I’m always by-the-book, I’m come off as a jerk and I bullied his friend through High School.” He uses his fingers to list off the things he says. It makes him realize just how different the two of them are, and that it shouldn’t be possible for them to get along as well as they do. 

With another sigh he looks at his friends, catches them eyeing him with wariness before holding a silent conversation between themselves. Only that he knows what they’re talking about, because he’s usually in the middle of those conversations. 

As expected they try to invalidate one point after another. 

“You apologized to Keith,” Leif starts, voice stern but the look on her face a mixture of helplessness and uncertainty. Who can blame her? Romance is not her forte, and convincing others to act on their feelings is something she’s never had to do before. 

Riz joins in to help her. “And you’re most definitely not always a jerk, only when you want to be. And most of the time the person either deserves it or you apologize properly when you see that you’re in the wrong.” She sounds more confident than Leif, but James knows that she’s a good actor, especially when it’s about things that are important to her. And this seems to be very important to her. 

“Opposites attract,” Kinkade adds as last resorts. He sounds even less confident than Leif, but it’s well hidden behind his crossed arms and narrowed eyes. But James knows him well, at least well enough to see through him.

“Guys, do you seriously believe that I am able to fit together with someone who’s the complete opposite of me?” He runs his fingers through his hair to let of some steam. “I mean, Lance surely won’t have problems adopting to any given situation, but me?” He laughs bitterly, the hollow sound echoing in his room.

James doesn’t speak out his real thoughts, his self-perception of the ‘by-the-book jerk who gets angry when something doesn’t work the way he wants to, who used to bully people because he was insecure about his own sexuality, who is too afraid to admit his feelings towards his crush and fights every possibility of any future relationship when his friends want to talk about it’. The silence speaks volumes though, and they all hear everything he wants to say but doesn’t from the frustration in his voice. “Do you really think I am able to not fuck this up?”

No one answers him, even though the ‘waits’ and ‘buts’ are clearly visible in their faces. They are ready to continue the fight as soon as they think of a comeback. James doesn’t give them the chance though. “Thought so,” he sighs exhausted. “Times up, by the way.” 

He’s just about to stand up when Riz jumps from the bed. “Okay, okay. One last thing,” she says and puts her hands on his shoulders, her strength and the look in her eyes effectively pinning him on the chair. “If you don’t ask him out, someone else eventually will.” She takes a deep breath, giving James enough time to think about what she’s implying. Riz continues before he can think of a comeback though. “How would you feel seeing Lance with someone else?”

His heart misses a beat when he realizes the full implication of Riz’ words. Because she is right.

For James, the thought of going further, addressing his feelings, confessing and maybe even starting a relationship with Lance are frightening. It’s safer to keep things how they are right now. 

But things won’t stay the same forever. And what if Lance finds someone who can’t stand James? Who doesn’t like their friendship and disapproves of their closeness? Of course Lance would never leave James because of his friends, but what about a lover? 

Could James even stand seeing Lance look at someone the way he looks at him? Could he tolerate watching Lance hold some random guy’s hand, kiss some stupid girl’s lips? Could he bear spending time with Lance with the knowledge that he will return into someone else’s arms?

Would they still be able to meet up for coffee, or binge watching, or just to talk? Would they still be able to speak freely about everything that comes to their minds? Would James still be able to see Lance’s easy smile, his ocean-blue eyes, the way his whole face lights up whenever he spots him in a crowd of people? Things that James can only enjoy when he’s close to Lance? Things James could never imagine to lose?

The answer is simple.

“Fuck.”

And that seals the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think?
> 
> Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts please! I'm so curious how other people like this chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll just drop this here and quickly go to bed. Good night!

The shock of his little revelation still sits deep when Lance comes back to finish the project later that day. Even worse is Lance’s obliviousness to everything. It’s not like James can tell him what his friends really hold the intervention for, or even what the outcome was. 

He tries to concentrate on their project instead. All data has been gathered and they managed to write everything down to Professor Coran’s demands. Now they only have to proofread the whole thing, which takes concentration, which James doesn’t have. 

His mind keeps on drifting back to Riz’ words, and his own feelings that were fueled by them. A sneaky look to his side makes the warm feeling in his chest burn even brighter. The concentrated look on Lance’s face, the tongue peaking out between his lips as he marks a paragraph with highlighter, his messed up hair from brushing his fingers through it multiple times.

Yeah, James is gone. 

He stifles a sigh and gets back to his laptop, even manages to read a few lines before his thoughts drift again.

How is he even supposed to ask Lance out in the first place? It’s been years since he had a boyfriend, or even a date. Up until now his college experience consisted mostly of drunken make-out sessions at parties and… studying. So, yeah. He is totally lost.

Besides him Lance leans back to stretch his arms over his head. He hides a yawn besides his hand and flops himself over the table with a groan. 

“I am done,” he proclaims. 

James huffs at him. “Are you really done, or just tired?”

“Both.” Lance rests his head on his arms while turning a bit to face James. “I finished reading my part. There is something I want to rephrase, but I’m pretty happy with the rest.”

James looks at his own screen, the curser stuck somewhere between the sixth or seventh paragraph. Lance looks as well and raises his eyebrows in question at him. He’s right though, usually James is working much faster than this.

“Sorry,” he sighs annoyed of himself, “it’s just… something on my mind.”

A grin quickly appears on his lips, and James can see the teasing spark in his eyes before Lance even says something. “Are you still thinking about what we said about your sheets?”

“No.”

“You should though,” Lance chuckles. 

James tries to sound annoyed, but it comes out more like laugh. “Stop it with my sheets already!”

Lance just chuckles louder, not even trying to hide the mirth he’s getting out of this. He sits up and rests his head in his hand, still facing James with his wide and pretty smile. “We should go and buy new ones next Saturday.”

James is just about to agree when he remembers. “You work on Saturdays.”

“Yeah, but I got the weekend off. It’s the owner’s birthday, and she and her wife got something planned for that day.” Lance shrugs nonchalantly. 

“So, you’re free?”

“Yep,” he says, popping the ‘p’.

“And you want to spend your free day with me?”

Another teasing grin. “I can’t let you sleep in these hideous sheets for longer than necessary.” Lance bumps his shoulders while talking, bringing James out of balance. 

He steadies himself before taking another look at Lance. The warmth in his chest burns up again, as if someone just put some wood into a bonfire, and James feels himself matching Lance’s now soft smile.

“Okay.”

Lance beams at him. He quickly takes out his phone and opens his browser. After a few seconds some opening hours appear on his screen. “Let’s meet up at nine, so we can eat breakfast together.” 

James eyes the screen but doesn’t get the name of the shop Lance brought up. “Not a coffeeshop,” he tries carefully. 

“Well, duh. Of course not. I know a better place for that.” Lance finally lets him see the page of the browser. It’s some French name and the word ‘café’ at the end, but it doesn’t ring any bells. 

In the end, it doesn’t matter though. The prospect of spending more time with Lance makes him agree to it easily.

“Alright then.” Lance puts his phone away and gets back to the paragraph he marked earlier. “Let’s get back to work, yeah?”

James focuses on his screen as well, having the perfect motivation to actually read his text. He wishes he could fast-forward to next Saturday, but their little study-session right now isn’t so bad as well. As long as he gets to spend some time together with Lance.

* * *

“Riz! Hang up!” James hisses into his phone, trying to stay quiet enough so the students around him don’t hear him. It’s not nice to make a call in a lecture hall, even if they are still on break and Professor Coran hasn’t showed up yet.  


“But James!” Riz practically whines, and it grinds on his nerves. 

James wishes he could just vanish from the face of earth right now instead of having to suffer through Riz’ enthusiasm. “Don’t you have classes?”

“Well, duh,” her voice is quieter now, almost a whisper, “but I sneaked out when I heard the news.”

“What? You- How did you-“ His outcry got the attention of a few people around him, and he slides deeper into his seat, trying to make himself as small as possible. “Ugh, whatever,” he whispers too, his discontent about the whole situation clear in his voice. “Hang up already.”

“When were you going to tell us about your date?” Riz scolds. 

“Never,” he answers, realizing his mistake a second too late. His mood sours while he tries to get out of this. “It’s not a date.”

“It is.” Her voice is high and she’s drawing out every vowel. James can practically hear Riz’ huge grin over the speaker. 

“Were just shopping for sheets.”

Riz clicks her tongue at him. “You’re eating breakfast together.”

“Did he tell you everything?” James groans. He finally sees the familiar brown curls enter through the door, and Professor Coran hot on his heals. James is pretty sure Lance will sit in one of the first rows again, because the project is over and there’s no reason for him not to. He still uses the opportunity to end this conversation. “I gotta go.”

“What? No, wait-“

“Bye, Riz!” He quickly ends the call with a sigh, and stares at his phone for a good minute, thinking about what they just talked about. It’s not a date, is it? A date would mean spending time together, not just going shopping for bedsheets. And usually it consists of lunch or dinner together, not breakfast. 

Yeah, it’s not a date.

“This seat still free?”

His head snaps up when he hears the familiar voice next to him. Lance is standing next to him, hand on the backrest of the chair James didn’t expect him to sit on today, waiting for answer. 

“Uh, yeah.” James scrambles for his bag on the chair and puts it on his side, and Lance sits down next to him. 

He takes his notebook and a pen from his own bag and watches Professor Coran fiddle with the project papers on the front desk before speaking up. “So, I was thinking about Saturday…”

Dread fills his stomach. James has already considered the thought of Lance bailing out on him. He sure has better things to do on his free day than go shopping stupid sheets with him. 

James swallows his stupid disappointment and answers him instead. “Okay?”

Professor Coran clears his throat and begins his lesson with a speech about the projects they left on his desk. James doesn’t even pretend to listen, opting for staring at Lance as if he could change anything with nothing but an intense look. 

Lance scoots a bit closer and faces him to whisper. “I thought that after shopping, we could watch a few more episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

Well, seems like intense looks work. James swallows again, only this time the over-excited feeling of bubbly happiness and tries to keep his voice steady when he answers. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” He sounds almost nonchalant. Almost. 

Lance raises an eyebrow, probably hearing that somethings off from the weird hitch in James’ voice. “You didn’t watch ahead, did you?”

He quickly shakes his head. “I didn’t.”

“Cool.”

Their attention snaps back when the Professor starts asking questions the students have to answer. James write down some facts he rambles down, seemingly random information, but he knows from other students that Professor Coran likes to test them on things like that as well. 

When his attention is back on the whiteboard, Lance scoots over again. “We can also buy some popcorn and order pizza later on,” he whispers and makes James heart flutter, because now their little get-together includes lunch.

“Sounds great,” he murmurs back, barely able to contain his excitement. Lance answers him with a smile before moving his eyes back to the Professor for good. James thoughts stray instead to their talk and the call with Riz before. 

Holy shit, she was right. It _is_ a date!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James is so bad at this dating stuff, meanwhile Lance is a brilliant mastermind who asks James out without him even noticing. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Are you ready for the last chapter?
> 
> Comments mean the world to me, so please tell me what you think about this fic.
> 
> And in case you were wondering, here is [ my tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wertdifferenz).


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First date and two blushy messes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. 
> 
> And it only took 3 months.
> 
> Thanks for returning to this little fic. I hope you like the long awaited ending!

To say that James is nervous is a huge understatement.

He woke up extra early that morning, much to Kinkade’s annoyance, to pick out what to wear on his date. With the few tips Riz gave him the night before in mind, he tries on multiple shirts and button downs until settling for dark blue jeans, a dark green button down and a white shirt underneath. 

Casual but nice. Even Kinkade gives him a thumbs up before turning around to hide under his bedsheets again. 

James leaves the dorms about twenty minutes before he is supposed to leave, because he’s pretty sure that Kinkade will kill him if he makes another nervous comment about his outfit, and because he doesn’t want to be late. 

He ends up being early to the café Lance picked out, but as he enters through the wooden door, he sees Lance already nibbling on some coffee at a small table for two right beside the big window façade of the shop.

Lance’ face lights up as he sees him, and James can’t stop his own smile. He walks over to the table and takes a seat on the empty chair while Lance calls over the waitress for some menus.

“You’re way too early,” Lance teases as they browse through the different variations of coffee and teas. 

James raises an eyebrow and gives a pointed look to Lance’s half empty cup. “Look who’s talking.”

The red on Lance’s cheeks is endearing. “I didn’t want to be late.”

James huffs, glad that he isn’t the only who feels that way. His eyes move between Lance and the menu, trying to get a few subtle looks of the cute blush. He quickly looks down right before Lance manages to catch him and tries to concentrate on the food instead. 

The selection is huge, and pretty much everything sounds tasty. They have everything from sweet to savory, dishes for one person, two people or whole groups, small plates, big plates, combinations between both and a number of different kinds of bread James has never seen before. Feeling a little bit lost in the selection he glances at Lance, who is already watching him expectantly. 

James clears his throat sheepishly. “What do you recommend?”

A bright smile spreads on Lance’s face. “Honestly, everything on this menu is so good! I wish I could eat here every day.” He turns a page and shows him the different options. “If you like sweet stuff you should try the pancakes, and if you prefer a savory breakfast the omelet.”

James reads through each description, tempted to just order everything at once. Indecisive he looks up again. “What are you going to get?”

Lance hums while turning a few pages. He ends up pointing to the first two things on the menu. “My all-time favorite: a Bircher muesli with extra blueberries and some waffles with cherries.”

That sounds… a little bit too sweet so early in the morning. Lance laughs at the grimace James is trying to hide. By now he knows that the only sweets James manages to bring himself to eat are some cookies or muffins once in a while, and even though the Bircher muesli sounds pretty good, the waffles would be too much for him.

The laugh turns into small giggles, and Lance shakes his head as he looks at James with mirth in his eyes. “Just try the omelet, I promise you will like it.”

James hums approvingly and fixes his eyes on the menu. Tries to, at least. But it’s hard to concentrate on anything else but Lance’s lingering smile, or the way he sticks out his tongue while reading the menu with concentration, as if he hadn’t chosen what to eat already. 

The sun casts a few rays through the window, illuminating Lance’s cheeks and making his eyes sparkle like waves in the blue ocean. It makes James wonder how this beautiful boy could ever be interested in him. 

A cough of the waitress right next to him jerks James out of his thoughts before they can spiral to deep downwards. The tall woman holds a phone and a pen in her hand, looking expectant towards both of them. 

“Are you ready to order?”

“Yeah,” Lance answers quickly. “The usual for me, and a hazelnut latte please.” 

The waitress nods as she starts typing Lance’s order into her phone. Her big hoop earrings dangle with every nod, and her smile widens when Lance thanks her. She looks at James, still smiling brightly when she waits for his order. 

“The omelet, please.” James looks at the menu towards the drink section. “And some peppermint tea.”

The waitress puts James’ order in her phone, takes the two menus and moves on towards the next table. James watches her for a few seconds while she moves through the café, dodging patrons and tables with expertise before stopping at the little bar in the corner. 

His eyes fall back on Lance, who is already looking at him with a small smile. 

“No coffee?” he asks after a few seconds. 

James shakes his head, eyes moving towards the napkin in front of him. “I think I’ll be too jittery if I drink coffee today.”

“I know what you mean.” Lance laughs quietly. He rests his head on his hand, elbow on the table and posture totally relaxed. “When I applied for my current job, I was really nervous, and then I made the mistake to drink some of my friend’s espresso. I could literally hear my heart beat for the rest of the day, and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. It’s a miracle that I still got the job.”

James laughs. He has no problem imagining Lance all nervous and fidgety with the extra caffeine kicking in, stumbling through a whole interview and still being successful in the end. With his charm and enthusiasm, he could get any job if he wanted to. 

Lance nudges James’ hand with his pinky, pulling it away from the napkin that’s close to tearing between his fidgeting. Lance smirks when James leaves the napkin on the table and looks at him instead. “Why are you nervous though?”

James’ eyes widen and his breath stocks for a second. “Uhm…”

Suddenly the waitress is next to him again, carefully placing their drinks between them and some cutlery right next to it, successfully dragging Lance’s attention away from him. James takes the few seconds to breath, hoping that Lance will drop the question if he refuses to answer it.

How is James supposed to explain that he’s nervous because he assumes that this is a date?

Lance eyes him as soon as the waitress is gone, but instead of speaking up again to repeat that question, he simply lifts his coffee and takes a few tentative sips, humming lowly with appreciation of the taste. 

“I love hazelnut,” Lance says with the same smirk on his lips, but his eyes less teasing than before. “They make the best hazelnut latte here.” 

“You really like this place, huh?” James asks. 

“It’s my favorite in this town.” Lance hums. His gaze shifts over the framed artwork on the walls and the big bookcase between them. “I always come here when I want to treat myself of need a break,” he admits quietly. “Or when I simply feel like it.”

James feels a few butterflies flutter in his stomach. He is proud to know that Lance likes him enough to bring him to a place that seems to be very important to him. 

They sit in comfortable silence until the waitress brings them their food. Lance’s Bircher muesli is topped with a mountain of blueberries, and the cherries on top of his pancakes are almost falling off the plate with how many there are. 

James’ omelet looks just as delicious, with some cheese on top, and some cream with herbs and a little salad on the side. The waitress also places a small plate with bread and salted butter right next to him after a detour to the kitchen. 

They dig in with gusto. James has to admit that the omelet is probably one of the best things he has ever tasted, and he melts into the chair with a hum. 

Lance watches him with amusement, his cheeks stuffed with the pancakes and some powdered sugar on his lips. “And?”

“It’s so good!” James manages to say between bites, not able to takes his eyes off Lance’s lips. He has to force himself to look at his food instead, or else he’d do something embarrassing like wiping the sugar away with his finger. 

Or even worse, his lips. 

“Right!” Lance grins and licks his lips, getting all of the powder away and mesmerizing James once more. 

They eat in comfortable silence after that, James sneaking in a few looks at Lance from time to time, only to see that Lance is looking at him as well. His stomach is all fluffy and warm, and he’s pretty sure that the food caused only about half of these feelings.

When the food and drinks are gone, James insists on paying for them both. Lance tries to argue for quite a while but it’s no use. Even the waitress does a good job in quickly taking James’ money and ignoring Lance’s protests, earning an extra tip this way. 

“You took a whole day off for me to buy some sheets, it’s the least I can do,” James argues back as they leave the café and start walking towards the mall. Lance falls into step next to him, his hand is so close that James could wrap his own around it without any trouble. 

“I didn’t take off to only buy some sheets. I’m already happy enough with spending some time with you, you don’t have to pay me back for that,” Lance grumbles next to him, oblivious to the effect his words have on him. 

James has to take a minute to fight the blush that’s threatening to embarrass him. To hear that Lance really wants to spend time with him is a thousand times better than just guessing it. 

They reach the mall in a few short minutes. James lets Lance take the lead, because he’s never been to the home depot store since he moved to this city. Lance seems to enjoy guiding him as well, taking his time explaining a few things about the store or a story of what he bought the last time he’s been here. 

Lance walks him through the different sections until they reach a few shelves with blankets, pillows and sheets in different colors and designs. The range is huge, as well as the difference in prices, going from ten bucks for regular sheets up to two hundred bucks for silk ones. 

James stays on the cheap side of the shelf, not really knowing what to look for in the first place. “So…” he starts, completely lost.

“So,” Lance repeats after him, “what are you looking for in the first place?”

“Uhm…” James looks around the shelves until his eyes fall on Lance. “Sheets?”

“Oh my gosh, James!” Lance bursts out laughing, hardly being able to keep upright by the sheer force of his giggles. A few people crossing the isle watch them curiously, but disappear behind the shelves after a few minutes, giving them at least some kind of privacy.

James can’t fight the blush this time, but he doesn’t really mind as long as he can watch Lance laugh freely like this. 

“Oh my gosh,” Lance giggles after a few minutes, breathless and still shaking, “oh my gosh, that was the best one yet.”

“The best one?” James asks oblivious.

“Yeah.” Lance takes his phone from his pocket, typing for a few seconds before stowing it again. “Nadia will love this.” 

“Don’t tell me you just texted her.” 

“Okay, I won’t tell you,” Lance teases with a smirk on his lips, ignoring James’ pained outcry to move towards the sheets instead. “Let’s get back to business.”

Lance steps forwards and takes one of the pillows from the display on top of the shelves. It’s a light blue-checked polyester-cotton mix, quite soft to touch and probably easy to wash as well. “How about these?”

James takes the package when Lance hands it over, taking his time to look at the color and pattern. “I like them, but blue isn’t really my color.” He gives the sheets back to Lance, who regards it for another few seconds before placing it back on the shelf. “It suits you better.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Lance shrugs, looking over all the blue sheets the store offers. “What would you choose then?”

James looks over the shelves as well. The store has hundreds of different colors and patterns, most of them even in a price range that James can afford. He eyes the side with the bright colors with reluctance before moving to the earthier colors. When he gets to the beige section, he casts a quick look towards Lance as he reaches out for some sheets that look exactly like the ones he has at his dorm. 

“Don’t you dare.” Lance stops him before James can even touch the sheets. James can’t hide his grin as he takes in Lance’s disapproving frown. Lance raises his arms in agitation and clear frustration. “We’re here to get you nice sheets, not the same ones as before.”

“They don’t look the same,” James counters with a grin, pointing out the light pattern that’s hardly visible from Lance’s distance until he steps closer.

“Oh, sorry, you’re right. They have stripes! But they look horrible as well.” Lance swats James’ hand away before he starts pushing him towards the end of the isle, where white, greys and black are the dominant colors. “Try again.” 

James takes Lance’s seriousness with amusement, his smile not fading from his lips even as he starts concentrating on his task. This part of the isle is much more to his liking. People may say that white, grey or black sheets are boring, but the store keeps a pretty interesting assortment of color variations and patters, that look very elegant and mature on the display.

It’s definitely much better than what James has at his dorm, and he even thinks that his mother would do good in taking a shopping trip to this mall instead the one she regularly goes in her town. The people here obviously know better what looks good in a bed. 

James shuffles through the sheets, taking a few out, looking at the color, pattern and material carefully before placing them back in the shelf. It takes several minutes until he finally finds one that could pass Lance’s critique eyes. 

He takes the package and hold it out to Lance for inspection. “That one.”

“Okay?” Lance takes the sheets and turns it a few times in his hands. He raises one eyebrow as he looks at James.

“What’s wrong with them?” James asks self-consciously. The design is pretty simple, with a light grey leafy pattern on a white background and dark grey outlines. James likes it, because it looks mature but not as boring as his other sheets. 

“Nothing.” Lance laughs quietly. “I think they suit you well.”

James looks at him for a solid minute, his voice dropping with disappointment. “You don’t like them.”

“What? No! I like them.” Lance takes a step closer, pressing the sheets to his chest while he takes James’ hand and squeezes it lightly. “That’s not even the point here! You have to like them.” 

James stares at their hands, fighting the heat in his cheeks. Lance’s hand is soft, his fingers gentle as he squeezes James’ hand again before letting go. When James look up, Lance’s cheeks are a bit redder than before. 

James takes a flustered step back. To gather his thoughts, he forces his eyes away from Lance and looks over the shelves instead, his gaze falling on the earthy sections. He can’t help the next words, because it’s fun to tease Lance even when his heart is still beating fast from the previous contact. 

“I like the beige one as well,” James says as nonchalant as possible. 

“Okay, the grey one it is.” Lance clasps the sheets under his arm and places his free hand on James’ shoulder to drag him out of the isle towards the register. On the way they pass a section with soft pillows that remind James of something. 

“I think there are two pillow sheets in this one.” 

Lance checks the cover himself and nods when he reads the few lines on the back. “You’re right.” He lifts his head and looks towards the isle they just passed. “Maybe they have another?”

“Or I could just buy another pillow.” James shrugs and lets his eyes wander instead, purposely avoiding Lance’s curious eyes. “Doesn’t hurt to have two, right?”

“Right.” Lance grins and walks towards the pillows, starting to test them by puffing them up. “You should get a soft one.” 

“Why?” James asks with a smirk, knowing exactly that Lance prefers soft pillows instead of the regular one James keeps for himself. 

“Just because,” Lance answers, fluffing a few more until he finds one that fits. He places the package with the sheets on top of the pillow and starts walking towards the cash register until James stops him and takes the items himself. As if he would let Lance do all the work alone. 

James pays while ignoring the knowing glances from the cashier. Thankfully Lance is too distracted by a few keychains with colored cats next to the register to notice anything else, especially the blush that doesn’t seem to leave James’ cheeks today. 

They take the bus back to James’ dorm since it’s a bit quicker, and they don’t have to pay any fee with their campus tickets. Ryan is not around when they enter the room, because James bribed him with some chocolate bars to stay with Riz and Leif for the rest of the day. 

While James unpacks the sheets and the pillow from the wrapping, Lance makes himself comfortable on the beige sheets that he musters with distaste. He orders some pizza on his phone, but makes sure that they won’t deliver until lunchtime, because they are still pretty stuffed from breakfast. 

After James stowed the sheets in the hamper, he takes his laptop and sets up Netflix, so they can continue with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Lance is already hogging the new pillow, placing it between himself and the wall to make it more comfortable. 

James sits down next to Lance, places the laptop on the bed so they can both see the screen and starts the episode.

They watch a few episodes like this, only stopping one in a while to make a toilet break or to get something to drink. It’s so easy and comfortable that James doesn’t notice how quick the time passes. What he does notice though is how Lance always inches a bit closer during the episodes. 

With Lance sitting so close to him, it’s impossible to concentrate on the series any longer. Instead James’ eyes drift to Lance’s hand that’s right next to his, and his thoughts to the memory of Lance’s soft skin between his fingers. 

James really wants to take Lance’s hand. If only he wasn’t too scared to actually pull through with it. 

He is in the middle of pumping himself up when Lance’s phone rings. His hand vanishes, and James suppresses a disappointed sigh before Lance can notice. 

“Pizza is here,” Lance says after the quick call.

“I’ll get-“

“No, you won’t! You already paid for my breakfast,” Lance protests and is up and gone before James can even think of a counter. 

James sighs and leans back, his head resting against the wall and eyes closed for a minute. He doesn’t mind that Lance left the door open or that other students might see him like this. All he thinks about is the miserable attempt at holding Lance’s hand, and how he failed even such a simple thing. 

It’s just… being with Lance makes him so happy, and he really doesn’t want to ruin it by being too forceful or brisk. He just really doesn’t want to mess this up. 

The door shuts with a click and James open his eyes to see Lance watching him with concern, pizza in his hands forgotten for a moment as he carefully steps closer. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just…”

Lance sits on the bed and places the pizza on his lap, mindful to not get the greasy carton on James’ sheets. “Just what?”

“Uhm…” James doesn’t know what he should tell Lance, thinking about lying or trying to change the topic, but just one look at Lance’s pretty blue eyes make him spurt out the words without a second thought. “Just nervous.”

Lance raise his eyebrows, a small smile gracing his lips. “And why are you nervous?”

That’s the moment of truth, James realizes as Lance looks at him expectantly. James takes a deep breath, stealing himself for whatever comes next. 

“I like you,” he says, voice soft and heart open. “I have for a while now.”

A few moments of silence pass before Lance bursts into a beautifully bright smile. “That’s good, because I like you, too.”

“You do?” It comes out more breathless than James likes to admit. 

Lance chuckles while placing the pizza on the floor and pushing the laptop away from them so there’s more space for him to sit. He shuffles closer and gently takes James’ hand, tugging a few times. 

“Come here.” 

Lance leans forward and places his other hand against James’ cheek, guiding him in his direction. It feels like no time and an eternity pass until their lips touch in a short kiss. Too short for James’ liking, and Lance seems to think the same, because he dives right back in.

His lips are so soft, not like James’ chapped ones, but Lance doesn’t give him a minute to think about anything but the kiss and the way Lance’s arms wrap around his neck. James’ hands automatically go to Lance’s hips to pull him closer, and soon Lance is sitting in his lap, still smiling even as their lips brush over each other. 

“I really like you,” Lance whispers softly, and James can do nothing but kiss him again, already addicted to the sweet taste and the tingling feeling on his skin. 

James doesn’t know how much time passes, only notices that his laptop shuts off after a while and that the pizza must be cold by now, but he doesn’t care. All he wants to do is to kiss the man in his arms senseless. 

And that’s exactly what he does for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments mean the world to me, so please tell me what you think about this fic.
> 
> Get more info about me and my writing on [ my tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wertdifferenz).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments mean the world to me, so please tell me what you think about this fic.
> 
> And in case you were wondering, here is [ my tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wertdifferenz).


End file.
